


Back-and-Forth

by d00mface



Category: League of Legends
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-25 07:24:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18256523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/d00mface/pseuds/d00mface
Summary: Kayn and Rhaast share a quiet Ionian morning together.Piece I wrote for the "Never One" contest on the boards and somehow managed to be the first place winner of! The prompt was partnership. I had to tell the story of two champions: "whether it’s friendship, rivalry, companionship, romance or sworn enemies…" and it could be no longer than 1000 words.





	Back-and-Forth

Outside the Kinkou monastery Kayn sat hunched over his weapon, carefully running a cloth down the blade. The sun had scarcely completed its ascent and already he was beginning one of the day’s mundane chores. Sounds of Ionia’s fauna waking up around him soothed the young shadow warrior; he enjoyed the soft white noise of mornings.

Kayn knew this relative quiet would not last.

“My, my. Do you treat all of your weapons with such tenderness?” The thought filled Kayn’s mind as easily as if it had been his own. He knew better than to think it was. “Or am I special, Kayn? I’m touched, truly.”

The eye upon his scythe squinted at him; swollen with eternal malice. Waiting for a reaction. Kayn would not give it one; not yet.

Kayn continued running his cloth down the weapon as if the honey coated thunder of Rhaast’s voice hadn’t been heard. The edges of corruption upon Kayn’s flesh began to burn, to itch, as though threatening to continue crawling up his form like vines that needed pruning. Rhaast hated to be ignored.

The shadow warrior would not be tempted into scratching at the chitinous edges of the corruption. It did nothing but turn his skin red with rash. Besides, Rhaast could not consume him as much as he struggled and tried; Kayn was too strong of will. He would not be consumed by a tool. He would not.

There was a tension in this silence; a mental tug of war that only the participants could truly understand.

Throwing the cloth over his shoulder Kayn at last peered down at his weapon, “You are just a tool, Rhaast. A chatty tool, but not a special one. Not to me.” The statement was not entirely true. Kayn knew this. He was sure Rhaast did too. But even as powerful as Rhaast was Kayn would conquer him as he had other more mundane weapons before him.

“A warrior must maintain his weapons,” Kayn continued as he grabbed the cloth once more. This time he applied oil to the cloth before moving it down the blade, “no matter how chatty they are.”

Goosebumps rose on his uncorrupted arm as the chilly air of a spring breeze blew against the exposed skin. Kayn wasn’t sure if he was imagining it, but Rhaast’s eye seemed to narrow further at him.

A memory flashed across Kayn’s mind, soft and dreamlike in a half forgotten way, golden. It wasn’t his. Never had he been to such a place - sand stretching into the horizon like a dusty sea, sun burning high in the sky, the towering clay outer walls of a strange city. Shurima, the name came to him as if it had been on the tip of his tongue. It hadn’t been.

“You must learn to better maintain your weapon,” His gaze in the memory shifted upwards towards the voice. A towering figure with features that blended between man and beast, with wings that glittered like starlight, an… Ascended knelt before him. Taller than him even on one knee. Ascended. This word came far too easily to Kayn too. A feeling of terror mixed with shock permeated the memory. Why would one of the Ascended Host even look in the direction of a simple soldier let alone take the time to examine his weapon?

The Ascended handed the scythe back to him. Kayn now noticed the chips and rust upon the blade. The name of this person, this Ascended warrior, that was on the tip of his tongue too. Before Kayn could grasp it the memory dissipated as quickly as it appeared.

Kayn stared, dumbfounded, before reaching down to grab the cloth he had dropped sometime in the midst of … whatever that was.

“What was that?” Kayn asked, trying not to sound too intrigued. “Rhaast?”

“It was nothing. Get back to cleaning the blade,” Rhaast’s voice was a subdued rumble in his head now. Rhaast hadn’t meant to show him that had he? Kayn’s words had brought the memory to the shared forefront of their competing minds. A smirk crossed Kayn’s features.

“You’re slipping,” The words were barely a hiss from Kayn’s lips. He swore he could feel Rhaast trembling in his grip. Again the corruption on Kayn’s flesh began to burn. Rhaast grumbled and groused somewhere deep in Kayn’s mind; fighting to consume him there too. Laughter bubbled up from within Kayn. The scythe would not win by throwing a tantrum.

Only now did Kayn notice the eyes upon him, burning into him. Not far away two young shadow acolytes stared at Kayn. They whispered back and forth, only freezing when they realized they had been caught. Kayn sneered at them, then growled, stamping the butt of his scythe on the ground until they fled like the children caught snooping that they were.

“They think you’re crazy,” Rhaast’s words pressed into his brain. “Sitting out here talking to your scythe like a lunatic. You look possessed. You soon will be.”

Kayn scratched at the corruption on his face. Now it was Rhaast’s turn to laugh.

Scoffing, Kayn returned to cleaning the blade of his weapon; there was relative quiet once more. The sounds of the monastery waking up mingled with the chirps of birds and other animals getting ready for the day.

Throwing the cloth over his shoulder Kayn finished his task, huffing out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. The shadow warrior stood, grabbed Rhaast, and stretched.

“Will we at least get to murder someone today?” Rhaast’s eye stared at him, expectant.

“Patience, Rhaast,” Kayn chided as if he were talking to a child and not someone who just threatened him with possession. He began to stroll back towards the monastery. “I haven’t even begun my daily meditation yet. We shall see what the day brings after that.”

Rhaast groaned from somewhere within Kayn’s head. How he hated meditation. More pointless silence.

Kayn just laughed.


End file.
